AID TOWNSHIP - Saturday was a good day to spread hay Š or go for a walk Š or lie in the shade, depending on your preference.

In spite of the high temperatures, Jim and Sharon Markin took a stroll along the hillside overlooking their son Jim Markin's house on Aaron's Creek Road, The Dart's bullseye this week.

"We've been back in those hills," the elder Jim said. "There's a pretty big rock house up there."

The Proctorville couple said they enjoy coming to visit their son at his Aid Township farm. The younger Jim has lived on that farm near Arabia since 1987.

"It's quiet, peaceful out here," Jim said as he watched his hay being spread in a field across the road.

The property belong to the younger Markin. He and neighbor Ralph Crawford are "going halves" on the hay since Crawford and his family are doing the work.

Not far away, in the Markin front yard, dogs Mel and Yankee lazed under a tree. Never mind the work, where is a good place to keep cool? These are the dog days of summer, after all. Too hot for much else besides a snooze in the shade.

"Sometimes when we come, I bring them some hot dogs," the elder Jim Markin said. "They like that."

Like Jim Markin, Ralph Crawford said life along Aaron's Creek was slow-paced and pleasant.

"I like the rural setting. I have good people for neighbors," Crawford said. "It's a good place to raise a family."

The Dart is a weekly feature in which a reporter throws a dart at a map of Lawrence County and finds a story where it lands.